Hey im Becky. Love Ciao and love my Costume Course at London College of Fashion. I also work for a b...
Hey im Becky. Love Ciao and love my Costume Course at London College of Fashion. I also work for a bank part time and love shoes, shopping, handbags, the theatre, film and eating out. :o) Oh and im still writing reviews. Thanks to all those who rate! x x
Member since:11.06.2006
Reviews:11
Members who trust:20
After deciding to take a gap year after my Alevels i decided on travelling around Australia not only since it was the furthest from my parents but i had heard of people having the most amazing experiences of their life there.
After two months of being in Australia with my Aussie partner, we finally made it to Sydney. The only thing i could think of doing first was climbing the most iconic bridge in the world that i could see from my room window towering over the city.
We rang up the Sydney Harbour Bridge booking hotline from our hotel and found the service fantastic until we heard the price at $600 aussie dollars for the two of us (this included all the climbing gear, the instructor, a photo of our group and locker facilities). My partner started choking on the pen lid he had
in his mouth.
After yelling at him i had not flown half way across the world to not climb the sydney harbor bridge, we finally settled on the next booking (there was a three day wait to get in for the next climbing session) and we agreed on taking the sunset walk over the bridge. We was able to pay by credit card over the phone, which we found helpful since we didnt carry alot of cash on us as we were backpacking.
When we first arrived at the centre for the bridge climb (make sure u arrive early) it was clean, fully staffed with trained instructors, had a little bar cafe (this was expensive) and had a great wall of signed celebs photos who had climbed the bridge before us, including Will Smith and Kylie!
We checked in and was seated in a little room with a health and saftey video and explaining the pre-climb process. This was informative and helped to calm the pre-climb nerves that i was experiencing. We were filled into a room and had to sign a contract of agreement about health and safety and each resposiblity of the participants. We then dressed in cat suits, with accessories of a wetproof jacket, torch and hair ties and introduced to our instructor who was incredibly friendly and the best looking aussie i had ever seen. We then ran thru several climb excercises and was fitted with radios and headsets that allowed us to hear our instructor when on the bridge. In our group we had three other people making us a grand total of five. The group before and after us each had ten or more. I think on average the groups are bigger, but on this experience i was lucky. Please note you cannot take anything on the bridge with you, especially cameras. However they take pictures along the climb and of course make you pay a nice price at the end.
We made our way out on to the bridge, (i must admit wen walking along the steel beams i felt my heart hit my throat and we wasnt even on the main part of the bridge yet!) and our instructor gave us a detailed history of the bridge and pointed out the main sites in Sydney (especially the opera house which we later visited and saw the ballet Giselle).
It began raining as we made our way up the first half of the bridge and the sun was beginning to set, however i saw the most strangest phenomina whilst on the bridge. We saw one rainbow form in the sky, followed by a second directly above it over the Opera House. We cudnt believe it and made the instructor take our photo quickly so we had the memory in a photo. We continued to climb to the peak of the bridge and by this time the sun was setting rapidly and the sky had turned red. Beneath the red beam on the bridge we made a wish (apprently it is supposed to come true, if it does il re-edit this bit) and had our photo taken again. As we stood on the top over looking the city (they provide apple time to take in the views) we both cudnt help but feel a sense of achievement and excitment. Here i was standing on the most famous Bridge in the World, in one of the most famous Cities in the World in one of the most beautiful countries in the World.
As we came down the bridge we had our photo taken against the backdrop of Sydney City at night was given further information about the bridge's history. During the climb it became cold so i could recommend a reasonably warm jumper if your going beyong March time.
As we came down and back into the climb centre we were returned our locker items and was given a certificate of climbing the bridge and a group photo shot. My partner and i did get a further three photographs, one against the opera house, one under the beam at sunset and another against the city at night, this cost us a further $60.
Overall this was one of the most awe inspiring and amasing experiences i have ever done. Out of the five months i was in Oz this is always the first story i tell when ever the topic arises. I recommend this experience to anybdy and despite the priice (the goverment and city authorities dont pay for its upkeep) i would say if your going to fly all the way to Australia, and travel all the way to Sydney....make sure you climb the bridge.
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